Study for the Figure of Marie de' Medici in Henry IV Playing with His Children

This drawing is a preparatory study for the figure of the French Queen Marie de' Medici in Ingres' 1817 painting "Henri IV Playing with His Children" (Petit Palais, Paris). The painting depicts a domestic scene in the royal household. A guard enters the room where a seated Marie de' Medici sits on her throne, comforting a child who has rested her head in the queen's lap, while the king is on all fours giving his son and daughter a ride on his back while another daughter holds his sword. A maid with an amused countenance observes the scene from the corner. Ingres executed the canvas in Rome for the Comte de Blacas (1771-1839), who was the French ambassador to the city. The artist painted at least two other versions of the subject: one for his fellow pensionnaire in Rome, Dominique Papety (Victoria & Albert Museum, London), and one for himself (now in a private collection, Paris).
This study uses black and white chalk on brown paper to explore the pattern of shadows and highlights on the sumptuous fabric of the queen's gown. Here the model sits with one foot on a pillow and her hands idle in her lap. Her dress is simpler than the extravagant purple gown worn by the queen in the painting. The inscription “plus de lavis” or more wash indicates the need for a dark shadow to be applied where the fabric pools on the ground and absorbs the light instead of reflecting it. The study terminates just above the figure's shoulders, and the head added later on two horizontal strips of paper is presumably by another hand. An effort has been made to complete the figure and add the beautiful ruff that frames her head in the painting.